Cold Feet Causes and Solutions

Cold feet can occur for lots of reasons. In fact I would probably estimate that having cold feet might be one of the most common symptoms or complaints that somebody might have in their feet in general.

Causes of cold and symptomatic cold feet are many and in most cases cold feet can be common and aren’t really an indication of a disease process but are simply the way that your body has controlled its temperatures.

The most common cause of cold feet is really just a lack of the use of shoe wear and patients or individuals that don’t use shoes often will often get feet that become colder.

The feet are the farthest away from the heart and because of the the distance from the core of the body, have the most susceptibility to losing temperature and blood doesn’t get down there and so it doesn’t heat the foot as often.

If measured, the temperature on the toes is the lowest temperature generally of any part of the body just simply because of how far it is away from the core of the body.

However there are conditions that can cause it to be more significant.

If blood supply to the foot is impaired for any reason and that can include atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries which often is associated also with hardening of the arteries in the heart, then that can reduce blood flow to the foot and cause the foot to cool down or be cold.

In addition, there are different types of neurologic conditions that can reduce the amount of blood that gets to the foot as well and some of those can be from the sympathetic nervous system being more active in feet. People that usually have that condition also have more sweat in their feet, they sweat more readily and the foot remains colder for those reasons.

Home remedies for cold feet most people come upon on their own but warming measures can be very helpful.

So, foot soaks as well as as wearing appropriate shoe wear and then also stockings can make a big difference in maintaining warmth in your foot. There are different types of stockings that help. For example, anything containing wool or in some instances acrylic and even some of the newer synthetic fibers can retain heat a little bit better or at least regulate temperatures so that the cold doesn’t become as symptomatic.

In addition, massage can be helpful to maintain circulation of the foot and often there are circulatory alternative herbs and medications that have been prescribed for this. While we don’t have scientific basis for many of them, many patients feel that they’d make a big difference in being able to maintain warmth to their feet.

You should see a doctor for cold feet if you start noticing changes in color to your foot that remain for long periods of time, if you start noticing any sores or ulcers of developing in your foot.

Especially pain, if you start noticing unexplained reasons for pain and particularly in your toes that may be associated with changes in your skin, then you definitely see a physician or doctor for this to ensure that you have adequate blood supply to your foot and that you aren’t at risk of losing toes or losing portions of your foot or developing catastrophic problems with the lack of circulation to your feet.

In addition you should see your doctor for cold feet if you find that you’re having difficulty with warming measures just in terms of comfort at home on a regular basis and he may be able to recommend other things that you can do to reduce the symptoms that you’re having from this temperature problem.